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Today, the UAE and the Republic of Ghana announced the conclusion of a $30 million partnership that supports nature-based community development and climate solutions, while identifying initial investment areas in this field. Where Her Excellency Dr. Amna bint Abdullah Al-Dahhak, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, and Samuel Abu Jinapor, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources of Ghana, signed a letter of intent between the two countries, in the presence of Razan Khalifa Al-Mubarak, the United Nations Climate Change Leader for the Conference of the Parties.COP28President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Abdullah Al-Alaa, Assistant Secretary of State for Energy and Sustainability.
The letter of intent identifies 6 investment areas, including biodiversity, reforestation and agroecology that deliver numerous benefits in the areas of climate, biodiversity and community development, while also focusing on gender equality and youth empowerment.
The letter, which will support Ghana’s Resilient Agenda in the areas of nature and climate, includes indicators for measurement, reporting and verification that build on Ghana’s pioneering efforts under the Enhanced Reduction in Emissions from Deforestation Initiative.REDD+”.
Her Excellency Dr. Amna Al Dahak said: “Our partnership with Ghana confirms the UAE’s focus on global biodiversity, achieving climate and sustainable development goals, and confirms our commitment to implementing the “UAE Agreement” regarding stopping deforestation by the year 2030, in addition to focusing on protecting biodiversity.” .
She added: “There is no doubt that our investments in Ghana will enhance reforestation efforts in the country, and create a broader positive impact on local communities. By supporting a comprehensive set of initiatives aimed at protecting forests and increasing their areas, we aim to empower local livelihoods and enhance community participation.”
For his part, Samuel Abu Jinapur said that any effort to solve the problem of deforestation requires the mobilization of a lot of human and financial resources.
He added: “Although Ghana receives aid to eliminate carbon, there are critical implementation gaps that must be filled with other financial tools to further reduce carbon emissions, and this is what our partnership with the UAE seeks to achieve, which focuses in particular on providing significant support to enhance livelihoods.” and protecting ecosystems.”
He added: “We are grateful to the UAE government for implementing its commitments in this regard, and we assure them that we will use these resources to achieve the best value, whether in terms of forests, climate or people, to ensure that temperatures stop rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
For her part, Razan Al-Mubarak said: “The Conference of the Parties established”COP28“A new precedent for coordinating action in the fields of nature and climate, as well as consolidating investment in the plans developed by the nature-rich countries themselves, as the partnership between the UAE and Ghana is a clear example of the required approach that allows us to avoid the planet’s temperature rising above the level of 1.5 degrees Celsius, while Achieving sustainable development goals and protecting biodiversity.
The international governments adopted within the framework of the “Emirates Agreement” reached in “COP28“, a goal of halting deforestation by 2030, in addition to aligning its climate strategies with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.”GBFWhile the UAE and its partners have raised more than $2 billion to finance projects and programs related to nature and climate.
It is worth noting that Ghana and the UAE are members of the “Forest and Climate Leaders Partnership”, which is a mechanism for coordinating public and private investments in forest and climate protection.
The two sides will discuss details of some initial joint projects, within their bilateral partnership at the Conference of the Parties.”COP29“Which will be hosted by the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, next November, and then at the Conference of the Parties.”COP30“Next year.
